Street-railway rail.



No. 65|,825. Patented lune l9, I900. D. J. CLARK.

STREET RAILWAY BAIL. (Application filed Sept. 7, 1869.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT Ornrcn.

DAVID J. CLARK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STREET-RAILWAY RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 651,825, dated June 19, 1900.

Application filed September '7, 1899. Serial No. 729,748. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it Jnay concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID J. CLARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inStreet-Railway Rails, of which the followingisa specification.

My invention relates to a new and useful improvement in street-railway rails, and has for its object to so construct such a rail as to facilitate the turning out of wagons from the tracks and at the same time notinterfere with the travel of the cars.

With these ends in View this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then specifically designated by the claim.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same, the construction and operation will now be described in detail, referring to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification, in which-- s Figure 1 is a perspective of a portion of a rail, showing my preferred form of construction; and Fig. 2, a diagrammatical plan View showing the manner in which a vehicle-wheel is assisted in turning out of the tracks.

In carrying out myinvention as embodied in the drawings I form in the rail A the notches or depressions B, and this is preferably accomplished in the rolling of the rail by keying die-blocks in the rolls in such mannor as to bring about the formation of the depressions at proper intervals. These dopressions, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, do not extend to the bottom of the flange of the rail, nor do they extend entirely across the top of the tire. The result of this is that the travel of the car-wheels upon the rail is not interfered with, since the tread of the car-Wheel, being wider than the depressions, overlaps the same and is therefore constantly supported by the rail. Likewise the flange of the car-wheel, extending below the bottom of the notch or depression, is always guided by the rail, and this prevents anyhammering of the wheels, which would otherwise take place. A track composed of rails thus constructed will afford a ready means for the turning out of vehicles of all kinds, since the turning of the wheels of a vehicle at an angle to the track will cause the wheel upon the side in the direction of turn to pass into one of the depressions, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, when, it is obvious, the wheel will readily ride up the walls of this depression to the level of the rail, and thereby free it from the flange, and this with but little eifort upon the part of the team.

Much wear and tear will be saved to the rails by avoiding the cutting action of vehicle-wheels upon the flange of the rails, as at present, and also an equal amount of wear will be prevented upon vehicle-wheels, since this cutting action of the wheel aitects both the wear and tear of the wheel.

The depressions may be located at any suitable intervals along the rails, or there may be but one depression in each rail, since it is not often necessary'that a vehicle turn out of a track at an exact point, and were the depressions disposed along the track the length of each rail they would afiord ample facility for the purpose intended. No addition is made to the cost of this form of rail over the old form, since the depressions rather decrease the weight of metal in the rail without injuring the same.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful is- A street-railway rail having formed in the upper flange thereof one or more rectangular depressions, said depressions being of less width and depth than said flange, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto af fixed my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVID J. CLARK.

Witnesses:

MARY E. HAMER, L. W. MORRISON. 

